In his letter earlier this month, British Cycling president Brian Cookson called upon the candidates for mayor to promise greater investment to train other road users to respect and be aware of cyclists.  Mr Cookson also called for speed limits in inner city areas to be reduced and for road layouts and infrastructure to be improved to make it easier and safer for cyclists to use roads in urban areas.

The open letter from British Cycling comes after the release of official accident figures revealed that 16 cyclists were killed on the streets of London in 2011.  These figures reflect an increase in the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured in the capital in recent years and cycling campaigners are now calling for more to be done to prevent further deaths.  As My Cycling Claim reported recently, several national newspapers have already launched cycling safety campaigns focusing on the safety of cyclists in the inner cities in the run up to this summer’s Olympic Games.

In his letter, which was feature in its entirety on the CyclingWeekly website, Mr Cookson said:

“I am writing to you ahead of the Mayoral elections for London in what will no doubt be a tremendous year for sport and cycling in the capital. At British Cycling we are privileged to be able to look forward to a summer of Olympic and Paralympic sport in our capital city with all the surrounding benefits such as the venues that will be left for us to use and the way the Games will inspire more people to get on their bikes…

…I would like to hear your specific plans for cycling and how you intend to encourage more young people to be given the opportunity to take up sport, including cycling, with all the social benefits this creates. In particular British Cycling would like to hear how you intend to make the city safer and friendlier for cyclists…”

This year’s London Mayoral elections will take place on Thursday 3^rd May 2012 when six candidates, including current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone will be in contention for the office.

City cycling accident legal advice

My Cycling Claim was set up to provide free legal advice and assistance to cyclists who found themselves at the receiving end of dangerous or negligent driving and who had been injured as a result.  Our cycling claims solicitors are available to answer your cycling accident questions and as a law firm we can, if you have the grounds to make a claim, take your case on and recover compensation for any injuries you might have suffered in a cycling accident.  For more advice, call our claims advice service today or submit an enquiry through the My Cycling Claims website.

A cycle safety campaign launched by the Times newspaper has received 17,000 signatures since being set up in November last year.  The campaign, launched after one of the paper’s own journalists was knocked off her bicycle, has received widespread support from professional cyclists, famous faces and politicians.  An eight-point manifesto has been created for the campaign with the aim of making cities safer for cyclists.

The campaign was started after one of the Times’ own journalists, Mary Bowers, was involved in a cycling accident on her way to work which left her with serious injuries.

Interest in cycling accidents, particularly those in and around the capital, isn’t just limited to the Times.  The Guardian website carried an article last week citing various cycling blogs and politicians exploring some of the problems and attitudes towards increasing cycle safety.  In particular, an analysis by the Guardian’s transport correspondent, Gwyn Topham, reveals that according to his calculations, the casualty rates for cyclists in the capital have actually increased over the past four years.  In his words:

“The TfL figures show, I calculate, a casualty for every 58,000 cycling trips in 2007 to a rate of about every 49,000 in 2010.  Last year looks even worse, with deaths and serious injuries up from 358 to 407 for the first nine months recorded so far in the capital. While we don’t have the numbers for the first three quarters of 2011 to make the same per trip comparison, the bare figures so far in London suggest it is set to be the worst annual toll since 2000.”

The Times’ cycling safety manifesto lays out a series of reforms, improvements and suggested legal requirements that it argues could help to reduce the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on roads in the UK each year.

These measures include identifying the 500 stretches of road with the highest cycling accident rates and redesigning them so that any junctions are fitted with priority traffic lights for cyclists and mirrors to allow lorry drivers to see anyone on their bike on the nearside of their lorry.  There are also calls for a speed limit of 20mph to be introduced in residential areas where there are no cycle lanes and also for elements of cycle awareness to be included as a key part of the driving test for motorists.

Cycling accident claims

At My Cycling Claim, we see the effects that a cycling accident can have on the victim and their families.  Our specialist solicitors represent cyclists injured through no fault of their own in accidents on the road.  We welcome any improvements to cycling safety that would reduce the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on roads in England and Wales.  For a free and confidential discussion of your cycling accident with one of our claims advisors call today or use or our online claims form.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has put forward plans for a two-day festival of cycling to make use of the new cycling facilities at the 2012 Olympics site in Stratford, East London.

The festival, planned for 2013, will be the first major event to re-use the Olympic Park facilities after the Olympic Games this summer and will be the biggest cycling participated event hosted in the UK.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) will organise activities for the event at the Olympic Park to help support the event.

Organisers are expecting a turnout of up to 70,000 cyclists who will participate in an 8-mile long family fun ride around closed roads on the Olympic Park. The second day of the festival will see up to 30,000 amateur and professional riders from all over the world tackling a 100-mile course.

Speaking about the festival at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Johnson said, “This event will be a fantastic opportunity to show Britain at its best and to share our Olympic cycling heritage.”

It is set to become an annual event with the aim of drawing in long-term investment that can be used to improve London cycling conditions and help people get on their bikes. After the Olympics, the park will open in phases from July 2013.

As well as those taking part, the weekend festival could attract over 200,000 visitors from outside the capital to London and generate tens of millions of pounds in economic benefit.

According to the Mayor, “This spectacular event will help ensure that the 2012 Games are just the start, not the end of the benefits of hosting the Olympics.”

Cycling accidents involving women and children

Whilst most cycling accidents do involve men, a significant portion, around 20%, of the cyclists injured on the road are women.  Part of the difference between the number of female and male cyclists injured in accidents can be explained by the greater number of men who ride bikes.  Whilst increasing numbers of women are taking up cycling, they still represent under half of all cyclists.  Male cyclists may also be more likely to cycle in busy areas, during rush hour traffic or to attempt risky manoeuvres on their bikes.

The same goes for the proportion of children to adults involved in cycling accidents, with 1 in 5 cyclists involved in an accident being under the age of 18.  The RoSPA cycling accident figures also further break down cycling accidents involving children into various age groups.  This revealed that older children, between the ages of 10 and 15 are one of the groups most at risk of injury in a cycle accident, with a higher proportion of riders in that age group being injured than almost any other group, apart from cyclists over 60 years old.

Cycling accident locations and times

The time and location of cycling accidents were also analysed in the figures. Perhaps unsurprisingly this revealed that most cycling accidents happen in the morning rush hour from 8am to 9am and later on in the day between the end of the school day and the evening from 3pm to 6pm.

In terms of locations for cycling accidents to occur, then the T-junction is the road feature most frequently involved.  This is probably because a cyclist may have to pull out from a side road into a main road or they may have to navigate round a vehicle attempting to turn on to, or off of the main road, which could block the cyclist’s view of traffic ahead.

Cycling accident compensation advice

As cycling accident specialists, here at My Cycling claim, we closely follow cycling safety news and updates such as these latest accident figures.  From our own experience we know that in many of these 17,000 cycling accidents, there will be entirely innocent people who have been knocked from their bikes and potentially left with very serious injuries through no fault of their own.  Our cycling accident claim solicitors are here to help in those situations, recovering compensation for legitimately and in many cases very seriously injured people.

Police say the idea of the campaign is not to penalize people but to educate them about the dangers of cycling in the evening and at night without having lights fitted to their bikes.  The good news for those caught for not having lights on their bikes is that they can avoid having to pay the fine, if they buy some lights for their bikes within seven days.  As an added incentive, local cycle shops have agreed to offer a 10% discount to anyone buying cycle lights after being caught by the police.

Operation Glitter is run annually during the autumn and winter months in the area and last year saw two cyclists fined £125 after they ignored several warnings from police to get their bikes fitted out to make them more visible to motorists, pedestrians and other cyclists.  Speaking to the local press, one of the police officers responsible for running Operation Glitter, Sgt Ian Kennett said,

“Community safety is a key part of this operation. Cyclists without lights can be just as much a danger to others as they are to themselves.  It is very hard to see them as the dark evenings draw in, particularly if they don’t have lights and are wearing dark clothes. It isn’t safe.  I would like the public to work with us to help avoid as many accidents as possible. We don’t want to fine people; we would prefer people to be safe and seen.”

Avoiding a cycling accident

Staying visible at all times is vitally important when you are out on your bike.  Here at MyCyclingClaim, we have dealt with cycling injury compensation claims made by people who have been involved in cycling accidents at night, or in poor visibility conditions.  We know that cycle lights and high visibility clothing help to reduce the likelihood that you will be hit by another vehicle.  As well as that, if the worst should happen and you are knocked off your bike by a motorist, then the fact that you had lights fitted to your bike will strengthen the case for you to receive cycling accident compensation from the motorist’s insurance policy.

Delivering a lecture to cycling and transport planners at the headquarters of London Underground, Mr Hendy said that previous nationwide growth of 20% in cycling rates can be built on with a series of measures.  These included:

• Improving cycling lanes to make them safer to use for cyclists, particularly at road junctions.
• Introducing cycling training for adult cyclists and also awareness training for other road users.
• More cycle storage areas in central locations and better journey planning information.
• An emphasis in schools and workplaces on the use of cycling for commuting.
• Tackle perceived problems about the safety of cycling and improve its reputation.
• Continue programmes designed to mix cyclists of different abilities (so called Sky rides).
• Better integration between cycling routes and other forms of public transport.

Mr Hendy went on to say that in his opinion, “Cycling is a really quick, cheap, healthy and environmentally fantastic way of getting around – and it’s becoming increasingly safe and secure too. While we can’t change our damp climate or flatten the hills, we can develop a systematic programme of relatively small and cost-effective measures that will deliver a step-change in cycling in this country over the next 25 years. We could put Britain in the European fast lane on cycling and really make this the ‘Century of Cycling’.”

City cycling accident claims

At My Cycling Claim, we closely follow all developments that are likely to have an impact on cyclists, either positively or negatively.  Our cycling accident solicitors understand that with any attempts to boost the number of people in the country who use their bikes on a regular basis, there is also the potential for an increase in the number of cycling accidents – something which we don’t want to see obviously.  We know that being involved in an accident as a cyclist on the road in England or Wales can be a painful and traumatic experience, which is exactly why our cycling accident claims service aims to provide as much help and support as possible to injured cyclists to help them to recover and to get back on their bikes as quickly as possible after their accident.

CrashStat, a website created by cycling advocacy group Transport Alternatives, aims to provide cyclists with accurate information about the most dangerous road junctions and sections of road in US cities.  The website has initially been launched with statistics relating to cycling accidents just within the 5 boroughs of New York City.  This data is collected from accident reports and statistics compiled by state agencies in New York state, which is then overlaid onto a map of the city’s road network, giving a street-by-street view of cycling accidents.  This data can even be broken down further, such as only viewing cycling accidents involving people of certain ages.

Speaking about his organisation’s new site, Transport Alternatives’ executive director Paul steely White said, “For too long, dangerous and lethal drivers have gotten off with minimal or, astonishingly, no charges at all, by revealing where and why motor vehicle crashes occur, CrashStat gives all New Yorkers the information they need to demand better enforcement of our traffic laws. This is critical to changing behaviour on our streets.”

Safer urban cycling

The CrashStat website is a fascinating resource for New York cyclists, providing them with an overview of dangerous roads and allowing them to plan journeys to avoid these areas.  At My Cycling Claim, we are interested to see if a UK version will be launched allowing cyclists over here the same access to cycling accident statistics to help them to stay safe when cycling in urban areas.  After all, anything which can make life easier and potentially a lot safer for the UK’s cyclists has got to be a good idea.

Visit the CrashStat website to have a look for yourself.

Responses to the bill have been mixed, with several cycling charities pointing out that whilst helping to prevent serious injuries and brain damage in accidents where cyclists have not been wearing a helmet is a good idea, any potential benefits will be outweighed by the reduction in the number of people who use their bikes. The introduction in other countries of compulsory cycle helmet laws has led to marked drops in the number of people who cycle. For example, after wearing a helmet became compulsory for young cyclists in New Zealand, 47,000 fewer teenagers were reported cycling when compared with the pre-introduction figures.

On the other hand several road and cycle safety charities have supported the Bill, including Brake, Headway and the Child Accident Prevention Trust. They point out that whilst overall figures for road deaths continue to decline in the UK, cyclists are actually being involved in an increasing number of road accidents. Compared with 2009, the road accident figures for 2010 show a 7% increase in the number of cyclists killed on UK roads and a 2% increase in serious injuries. The groups in favour of compulsory helmet wearing also point to evidence from the Department for Transport’s road safety research and statistics division which suggests that around 4 in 10 cyclists who are admitted to hospital after a cycling accident will have suffered brain injuries.

Striking the balance

At My Cycling Claim, we see the impact that cycling injuries can have on a person, both in terms of their physical injuries but also the wider effects on their confidence and their ability to lead a normal life. Preventing cycling injuries is a noble aim, but it is always important to strike a balance between the benefits of making an activity safer (such as making cyclists wear helmets) versus the costs (to public health) of making that activity more difficult to do, or less attractive as a leisure activity.

There are various other measures that can help to make roads and urban environments safer for cyclists, including lowering speed limits from 30mph to 20mph on roads that see a high volume of cyclists. Additionally, cycling charity Sustrans has advocated increasing the cycling safety classes offered to schoolchildren as an alternative to compulsory cycling helmets and one which would have the added advantage of giving young cyclists the skills to cycle safely on the road and in busy areas.